One of the first steps you take when you are figuring out your gardening schedule is find your USDA Zone info. The most important data that the zone info tells us is average last frost and the lowest expected temperature for your area.

You can determine when to plant pumpkins in Cape Girardeau by looking at the USDA zone info.

Planting Calendar for Pumpkins

Frost tolerance for pumpkins:	Not tolerant of frost.
When to plant:	After all chance of frost has passed.

Since pumpkins are not cold tolerant it is important to wait until after the last frost when the weather gets warmer before you can plant them.

The earliest that you can plant pumpkins in Cape Girardeau is April. However, you really should wait until May if you don't want to take any chances.

The last month that you can plant pumpkins and expect a good harvest is probably August. If you wait any later than that and your pumpkins may not have a chance to grow to maturity. You can get started a few weeks earlier by starting your pumpkins indoors.

Last Frost Date

On average all chance of frost has passed is on April 15 in Cape Girardeau. You should expect an average low temperature of -5°F in the coldest months of winter.

Since the USDA zone info for Cape Girardeau is not always accurate the actual date of last frost changes from year to year. Since half of the time in Cape Girardeau you get surprised by a frost after April 15 be ready to cover your pumpkins if you have one of those late frosts.

USDA Zone Info for Cape Girardeau

Here is the info for USDA Zone 6b.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)	April 15
Average Date of First Frost (fall)	October 15
Lowest Expected Low	-5°F
Highest Expected Low	0°F

This means that on a really cold year, the coldest it will get is -5°F. On most years you should be prepared to experience lows near 0°F.

Plants to Grow in Cape Girardeau

You may be interested in your other planting guides for Cape Girardeau.